“Socially Engaged Art and Fall of the Spectator since Joseph Beuys and the Situationists” – Karen van den Berg in The Art of Direct Action: Social Sculpture and Beyond

…socially engaged art is not simply a development within the art field to be described from an art historical perspective alone, but rather a specific form of activity within society. … This is because Beuys was concerned with the development of an understanding of art in which artistic practice is understood as an anthropological activity […]